Back in 2001 the legislature passed
a law letting illegal aliens pay the same tuition as
legal Texas residents pay, as long as they`ve been in
the country for at least three years, and
promise to apply for permanent residency.
Meanwhile, a
young man or woman who is an American citizen, but
grew up a few miles across the
Oklahoma or
Louisiana state line, has to pay thousands of
dollars more than the illegal alien to attend the same
Texas university.

There are certainly good reasons to
charge out of state residents higher tuition at public
universities than Texans pay. State funded
colleges and universities are set up
primarily
to educate Texans. In-state tuition rates are
subsidized by Texas taxpayers, and so if out of
state students want to attend one of our schools they`re
more than welcome to, but they`ll have to pay extra for
the privilege and don`t get the Texas taxpayer subsidy.
This is standard operating procedure in almost all
states, and has been going on for decades. There`s
nothing unfair about it.

It becomes extremely unfair,
however, when people who
are in
the country illegally are given in-state tuition,
which is subsidized by the taxpayers of Texas, while
American citizens from other states have to pay
thousands of dollars more per semester. We are now
becoming second class citizens in our own country.
American citizens from out of state are treated worse
than people who shouldn`t even be here in the first
place, people who are breaking the law every day they
remain in America.

Liberals and
RINOs like to claim that giving illegal aliens
in-state tuition at taxpayer expense is a good
"investment."According to this
theory, because the illegal must promise to seek
permanent residency, it encourages them to assimilate
and become legal citizens, and in turn they become role
models for other illegals to emulate. They also
say that it`s far better for them to go to college and
get employment training so they can become productive
members of the economy, which justifies the massive tax
subsidies they receive.

They`re wrong on all counts.
Illegal aliens shouldn`t be
"assimilating"
in the first place. They should be
returning to their country of citizenship, not
freeloading here. As far as the
"role model"
argument, all we do when we give illegal aliens tens of
thousands of dollars of taxpayer subsidies for college
is to encourage even more illegal immigration.
That`s Economics 101—what you subsidize, you get more
of. Compounding this is the fact that legal
immigrants who respect our nation`s laws don`t qualify
for the lower tuition. We`re rewarding illegal
immigrants and punishing the ones who follow the rules.
Their third argument is also faulty. If we need
more productive workers in the Texas economy, we could
simply quit charging higher tuition for out of state
Americans.

IRCOT spokeswoman Rebecca Forrest
spoke to the Lone
Star Report about the lawsuit:

"We believe Texas is in clear violation of federal law by giving cash
grants to illegal aliens. Texas is currently
treating illegal aliens better than it treats legal
residents and American citizens, and we obviously want
our leaders in Texas to change this situation...we want
people to come legally, obey our laws, speak our
language and assimilate."[PDF]

IRCOT is a fine organization
working hard to reverse the invasion of illegal aliens,
and deserves your support. Former
Texas Supreme Court Justice Steven Wayne Smith is
also a party to the lawsuit, which speaks well of the
solid legal argument the suit is based on.
Several states
have passed similar laws, but there`s a growing
groundswell of opposition from outraged Americans fed up
with their government coddling illegal aliens.
Oklahoma recently rescinded its law, and even in
liberal California, the state appeals court ruled their
version unconstitutional (although it`s been appealed to
the state Supreme Court).

Texas` in-state tuition law is not
only unconstitutional; it`s also extremely expensive.
No government office tracks the figures, but The Lone
Star Foundation estimated that in-state tuition for
illegals cost Texas taxpayers approximately $18 million
in 2003 and nearly $35 million in 2005, nearly doubling
in just two years! If that rate of growth
continues, it won`t be long before its costing Texas
over $100 million per year. As long as our
government
refuses to get serious about stopping illegal
immigration, that figure is going to keep going
higher every year.

We`ve got high hopes that the IRCOT
lawsuit will be successful, and that the expensive,
unjust practice of granting illegal in-state tuition
benefits will be officially declared unconstitutional.
It`s a travesty
that IRCOT has to even take this to court, because our
legislature could rescind the law at any time.
There`s no excuse for it ever being passed in the first
place, but in today`s economy, it`s even more
indefensible. We can`t afford to be giving tens of
millions of dollars every year to illegal aliens who
shouldn`t even be here in the first place, while legal
immigrants and American citizens have to pay their own
way to attend Texas universities.

We should all support IRCOT and
their efforts to nullify this unjust and wasteful law,
but we shouldn`t stop there. Contact your
legislators today and demand that they repeal the
in-state tuition law. They have the authority to
do so, and there are no good reasons why they shouldn`t.
When it comes to illegal immigration, it`s often the
federal courts that impose these liberal policies, and
there`s little we can do about it. That`s not the
case this time. It`s our own elected officials in
Texas who passed this law, and it`s time we demanded
they repeal it.

Peter
Morrison (emailhim) is a businessman living in
Lumberton, Texas with his wife and four children. He
currently serves on the Lumberton ISD School Board and
as treasurer of the Hardin County Republican Party. He
says "I believe deeply in the principles of limited constitutional
government, the sanctity of life and that our state and
nation should be run under Thomas Jefferson`s principle
of `Equal Rights for All, Special Privileges for None.`"
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